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Certification is more than just a diploma
© St. Petersburg Times, A diploma mill in Zephyrhills exploited students and a pair of publicly funded agencies to cash in on the welfare-to-work push. The fallout includes a student population looking for work with bogus certification as medical assistants, and two work force groups wondering how the Associated Medical Arts Institute snookered them out of $170,000. As Times staff writer Ryan Davis reported, the school operated without a state license, hired unqualified teachers, short-changed students on classroom time and made up for it by spoon-feeding them answers to their certification tests. The students, nearly all disabled or poor, had tuition, books and class expenses covered by government grants. The school's owner/operators, John and Lourdes Antoinette Ross, characterized themselves as hard-working people who might have made a mistake. Hardly. The mistake-prone couple: Obtained blessing to operate from National Healthcareer Association, which tests and certifies students, after saying the school's medical assistant course was 900 hours. It was actually 288. The state, which certifies the school, but not the students, requires 1,280 hours of training. Signed the school's diplomas indicating Mrs. Ross was a registered nurse. She is not, according to the state. Posing as a nurse is a first-degree misdemeanor. Operated for at least a year without the appropriate state license to train students as medical assistants and never obtained the appropriate licenses to offer training in phlebotomy, EKGs and ultrasound. The school, which began operating in spring 2000, has shut down for the time being and its fate rests with a Florida Department of Education board which could rule at a hearing Nov. 1. The state shouldn't allow the school to reopen without major changes. As a state investigator aptly stated, the school legitimizes the person, so it too must be legitimate and do things correctly. The Rosses, also operators of a medical supply store, have shown no evidence of being able to do that. As for the participating agencies, Pasco-Hernando Jobs and Education Partnership and the state Vocational Rehabilitation Services, they were sloppy in not verifying the school's alleged credentials, but appeared to act in good faith in attempting to secure fast-tracked job training for needy clients. Still, even the agencies recognize better internal controls are a prerequisite. Earlier this week, Vocational Rehabilitation Services planned to change its procedures so fewer people can determine a school's eligibility and the Jobs and Education Partnership now requires supervisors to approve payments to schools. Those are good steps. But both should retreat from job-placement statistics as a defense. Career advancement will be limited for students with worthless training certificates. The agencies need to ensure the students receive the education they thought they were getting.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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